Because a significant portion of the import and export trade is dependent upon cargo containers, securing the transportation infrastructure continues to be a focus of the private and public sectors. Numerous configurations of cargo containers are available for transportation of goods, including crates, boxes, or the like that exhibit myriad shapes and dimensions. Such containers are used to transport goods and/or passengers in any manner, including via land, water, space or air vehicles including automobiles, trucks, vans, trains, rail cars, aircraft, ships, barges, trailers and/or the like. Although over six million cargo containers enter the country each year, a relatively small percentage can be physically inspected by customs or other government agents. As a result, various forms of contraband including illegal drugs, weapons, undocumented immigrants and the like are continually smuggled across geopolitical boundaries. Such illegal activities can have undesirable impacts on society, and in a worst case may threaten national security. Accordingly, reducing such illegal activities has vast benefits and is highly desirable.
It is therefore desirable to provide a system for improving the security of cargo containers throughout the transportation chain. In addition, it is desirable to provide methods for securing the chain of transport from origination to destination. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.